


the Saarebas

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: Chapter and Verse (Varric Tethras x Min Hawke) [4]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Conversations, F/M, Fights, Gen, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 18:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16749064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Min Hawke has her first fight with her friend Varric, and it reveals surprising information about them both.





	the Saarebas

Min Hawke stood over the fallen Qunari mage, her chest heaving.  The smell of smoke and charred flesh filled the air, overpowering the smell of blood and bowels from the other Qunari bodies.  A faint breeze blew, but it was not enough to remove the scents of battle.   **  
**

“Well, that was a shitshow,” said Varric, blinking and wiping blood off his face.  He knelt beside one of the spearmen’s bodies and rummaged half-heartedly in his belt pouch, coming up with nothing.  “I’ll say this for Sister Petrice.  She knows how to set a decent trap.”

“Of course she does.  It was obvious she was a liar,” said Isabela idly, searching another Qunari’s things.  “The question is, what’s her coin look like?”

Aveline frowned.  “I’ve never heard of a Chantry Sister running a scheme like this.  Why would she do it?”

Hawke shook her head.  “I don’t care why,” she said, bending down and using the flat of her dagger as a makeshift shovel.  She pulled sand over Saarebas’ ashes, smothering them.  The terrible metal collar and chains still loomed large in the sand.  The iron was red-hot in places.  She glared at the monstrous collar and took a long, shuddering breath.

“I’ve something to ask of you lot,” she began.

“Of course, love,” said Isabela, giving her a curious look.

“Don’t breathe a word of this to Bethany,” said Hawke, shivering despite the heat that still lingered where she stood.  “Do you understand?”

“She’s not a kid, Hawke,” Varric began.

“Don’t you start with me, Varric,” Hawke bit out.  “My sister, my rules.  She doesn’t hear about this from any of you.”

“Fine,” said Aveline, exasperated.  Isabela nodded with her eyebrows raised.  Varric’s mouth pursed.  He looked as if he was running numbers in his head, and didn’t like the sum he’d come up with.

 

* * *

 

The journey back to Kirkwall was uncomfortable and hot.  None of them wanted to return to the tunnels that had led them through the undercity, and so they took the longer way, the smell of salt air and the sea breeze a better companion than blood and smoke. They walked the bluffs of the Wounded Coast, the waves below them faint and blue.

Hawke dragged, nursing a faint limp.  It bothered her more than it should.  She’d ask Anders to take a look at it when she returned.  Her stomach squirmed at the idea of his steady hands and their soothing magic.  She shook the thought away, focusing on the path ahead.  It was still a long way back to Kirkwall.

Isabela and Aveline pulled ahead, bickering, though Hawke could tell it was without any real venom.  The two were fonder of each other than they liked to let on.  She watched them take the lead.

“Something you want to talk about?” asked Varric beside her.

“Not especially,” said Hawke, dust rising from her boots as she strode onward.  Varric had to hurry to keep up with her, nearly walking doubletime.

“What is it?  Because there’s clearly something.”

Hawke grimaced.  She hadn’t wanted to get into it; had hoped to simply avoid it.  “You were angry at me for even taking this job, remember?  If you want to say ‘I told you so,’ too bad, I don’t want to hear it.”

Varric gave her an incredulous look.  “Come on, Hawke.  I didn’t think this job was a good idea because Petrice was a liar, and getting involved in political and religious shit never pays enough for the trouble it causes.  That’s all.  I’m not laughing to myself and thinking ‘gotcha.’”  He shook his head, disgusted.  “Shit, if that’s what you think of me –”

Hawke slowed down, clenching her fists at her side.  “I took this job because I wanted to  _help_  him, Varric, did you think of that?”

Varric’s mouth opened in a silent  _a-ha_ , like the sum in his head snapped into making sense.  “And you don’t like that I had a different motivation.”

“I don’t, no, but it’s hardly the point.  You’ve always been clear what your priorities are, and altruism for altruism’s sake isn’t one of them.  That’s – whatever, it’s fine.”  She stopped, folding her arms across her chest, struggling to explain.  The words came out in a searing torrent.  “You realize that my father was an apostate?  That my little sister’s an apostate?  That if things had been different, it might have been one of them in a bloody dog’s collar with their mouth stitched shut?”

He stopped too, squaring around to face her.  He was silent for a moment, as if considering his words carefully.  “No.  I didn’t realize.”

“So you can see why I wouldn’t want Bethany to hear about what happened.  She’s been through enough.  She doesn’t need to take on what-ifs from what we saw here,” said Hawke, breathing hard.  “She doesn’t need to think about people hating her just for what she is.  Especially when half of Kirkwall already does.”

“All right,” said Varric.  He held up one hand.  “Message received.”  He swallowed, then slowly started walking ahead of her, Bianca solid against his back.

Hawke’s shoulders slumped.  The fight began to leach out of her, leaving her feeling shaky and regretful.

“Varric, wait.”

“What?” he asked.  “If you’re looking for altruism, you’ve got the wrong dwarf.”  He flashed a wide smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.  It looked wrong on his face.

“That isn’t – that’s not –”  She stumbled over the words.  “I didn’t mean it.”

“No, you did,” said Varric, “and it’s true.”  He looked uncomfortable, casting his gaze down.  “Sometimes I play the odds.  Sometimes people get left out.  Maybe they shouldn’t be.”

“You care, I know you do,” she insisted.  “It wasn’t fair of me.  I was… scared, furious, sick, thinking of Bethany being treated like that.  I wasn’t angry with you or the others,” said Hawke in a rush.

“I know,” said Varric.  He shrugged.  “Forget it.”  

“Are you –”

“Come on.  Aveline and Isabela might come to blows if we leave them alone too long,” he said flatly, turning and starting to walk.  “And I’m not in the mood to break up another fight.  Are you?”

“No, I suppose I’m not,” Hawke admitted.  She fell quiet, and they walked together for a few moments, not speaking.  

The coastal wind blustered around them, fierce and picking up.  They heard the faint voices of their companions, carried on the breeze; laughter and disgust, and beneath it something almost friendly.

“Varric,” she said, nudging him with her hip as she passed.  With their differing heights, she nearly bumped him in the shoulder.  

He stopped, giving her full attention.  “Yeah?”

“Pints tonight at the Hanged Man?  I’m buying.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t be late.”

“Hawke, I live there.”

“Still.  You know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“Right.  Let’s go save Aveline from Isabela.”

“Good idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently accepting this quest from Petrice earns rivalry from Varric. It's so hard to earn rivalry with him I had to think on the motivation behind it, and came up with this.


End file.
